Crystal River current. [volume] (Crystal, Colo.) 1886-18??, 1887-05-28
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
oratory, in its higher manifestatio


men. Often a nation has divided its
honors between its orators and its SOW
erlgn. Demosthenes was greater
than Philip, Greece's mcnacing
rival. Cicero was greater than Pom
pey; and who would think of beittling
Clay or Webster by comparing him
with President Polk. Tyler. Pierce, or
Buchanan Oratory outranks Office
money, social position, one or all.
Why? These arc extraneous, and Of
ten accidental; that intr nsc and. in II
degree. innate. LII no field of human
endeavor. save in the military. is
there such strain through the hour
which makes or breaks many. The
difficulties are many. In extemporc
speaking some OF these are as follows:
Selection of words pronunciation of
same, arrangements of sentences, di-
visions of subject, remembrance of
matter. at times change of matter
with change of circumstances. or chang
ing tide OF feeling in the audience and.
above all, discriminating scrutiny of
the audience; sometimes II mastery of
the same by the eNrrtion OF an intense,
suble soul force. known only to him
who wins the victory OF eloquence. ii
10 this DE added IN indifferent, aputhet-
ic, or hostile audience, the difficulties
st IL increase. Who goes through
such an ordeal rs this. save the III lita-
~ commander who stakes the lives of
thousands in the conflict of an houro
Justly may the world give its honors
to the man who wins in such a strug-
gle.
We notice, secondly, the place, of
the orator relative to others.
HE orator stands midway between
the poet and philosopher The philos-
opher, addressing the understanding,
aims TO instruct, TO convince; the poet,
addressing the Imagination and feel
Ings, a ms to please and to move. The
orator combines ;tll in one. SEEING the
understanding, the Imagination, the
senslbilit!es. and bending them all to
one end, sweeps on to the viii. and
comprising the whole mau in his higher
purpose iurrics him in the highest
fractions of life, namely. action ~-noble.
sublime, hero c action. Here is victo-
~ The warrior wins none So glorious.
He conquers the body, but the orator
the heart, the intellect. Heart and
tongue have come with II touching dis
tance. and tongue has conquered. This
is power.
We cons der. next. some of the elc-
ments OF this power.
When asked what this power is. it is
usual TO say, eloquence; and 50 il is,
But Immediately Nh, question confronts
Us. What is eloIuelcc? IL is easy to
say II Is magnetism. or it Is the crowl
and glory of ordtory; but these are
hardly satisfactory. Desiring to help
the young inquirer. we Will try to state
some OF the ingredients. These. us we
conceive them, are: () Strong feeling.
rising ut Times to pass on. Eioqueuce.
like other Intangible agents. as elect
rcity. magnetism. mind, is cabab.c of
measurement only BY its effects. Hear
crs never pronounce the speaker
eloquent until the are moved. L. e., till
they feel, and tiiee never feel till the
speaker feels. SO it i, feeling that be-
gets feeling. To characterz the feel
ing necessary TO .high cloqnancc, we
would say It must have three we'll
defined qualities -.trtu@th, delicacy.
rapidiiy The law of the human heart
is that feeling bcgets feeling; anger.
anger; tenderness tenderness: love.
love; thus on through the wide circle
of ennobling affections or degrading
pass ons. IEe orator stands on this
law. The old Roman said: ~ cis me
fe'Te, dotendHm est T'rinstM ,p5C tibi'
III you wish me 10 weep. you must
weep first Substitute tesi for reeD
and the term becomes general, aad so
touches II responsive chord in cvert
human heart. ca The second in
gredient is II Wv Il mag nat on. This
is the power that makes people see
through their ears. IL is the faculty
that enables the speaker to make the
absent presents; The ideal. real. So
he paints his picture OF words, and
1t AS Il panorama before s audience
TIL they sec the i9rk5iJss
These two faculties act reciprocaily
upon each other, mag nation quicken
ing feeling. and feeling v.vifyng
imagination. The Imagination paints
picture OF beauty, OF gref. of horror,
and the feelings are aroused. The
feelings are stirred by II tai. of suffer
ing. heroism. and the imagination i'm
mediately sciz.s The brush and gives q
new coloring TO the picture They
mutually help each other. and Jointly
help eioquence.
80 a third iugrcd ent is delivery
Delivery is the medium through
which thought. feeling, and magma
ton are transm tied to the audience. IL
is almost truism 10 say the medium
affects that which is transmitted. Light
through colored glass is co.ored, and
through muddy glass is ooscured So
in the orator large thought, strong
feeling, vivid Imagination, may all be
colored or obscured by the medium
through which they pass-delivery. On
the other hand. perfect delivery
were there such II thing-carr,es the
whole of one soul over another, or
others. "a soul enameled in fire.
transmits. through II perfect delivery,
its light and heat with such perfection
as to illumine. warm. and inspire till
other souls are rapt and borne away
under the divine rage of eloquence.
In conclus on. we would state briefly
four cardinal elements in high elo-
quence: az Large thought: (2) strong